Thailand The Latest Country To Ban Entire YouTube Over Single Video

from the overreact-much? dept

In a story that sounds nearly identical to Turkey's decision to ban all of YouTube after some annoying kids made a prank video making fun of the country's founder, the Thai government has now banned all of YouTube as well, due to an equally silly video making fun of the country's King. Thailand's minister of information and technology said that the people behind YouTube "are abusing their rights and clearly don't mean well for the country." For someone who's in charge of information and technology, you'd think he'd understand that that problem isn't with YouTube -- but with those creating and uploading the video. Also, of course, for a country that's so worried about some silly video offending its king, they just got some prankster's video a ton of press all over the world when it otherwise would have been ignored. So, let's sum up the results: people in Thailand no longer have access to the rest of YouTube thanks to one pointless video. The video itself is probably available in a bunch of other places for folks in Thailand to see if they want it. At the same time, lots of other people are now getting to see this video (which is still on YouTube) thanks to all the press hype this has caused. None of this, you'll note, does anything to protect the reputation of the King or help the people of Thailand, which is supposedly why they did it. So what's the point again?

Censorship rarely makes sense.

2-Way Censorship

Youtube routinely censors videos depicting practices which are legal in other countries, such as making copies of TV shows, death threats against the US President, or sex slave auctions. The users are completely banned from YouTube.

Re: 2-Way Censorship

Huh. Imagine that, a US based site taking down videos which are illegal in the US, which the (again, US) law compels it to do so when it is notified of such content. Not to mention that the site is completely free to police itself as it sees fit, being as it's not a governmental entity.

Thailand on the other hand is throwing out the baby, tub, washroom and water because a fly flew into the bathwater, and rather than ignore the fly, they also magnified it. Go sensible, proportionate reactions!

Re: Re: Simple solution...

Hello, I Swedish Mike, the toughest Mike of them all.

I would just like to say that Thailand sucks ass and they should stop censoring their frakkin' movies. (Listen, Thais, you dumb backwards hicks, you can't go around blurring out movies where people point guns at each other. THAT IS RETARDED.) Also, the King has one eye, the Monarchy is full of incest. Check out their kids; they're all misshapen freaks, not a single good looking one in the bunch -- that's the result of inbreeding, folks.

In closing: Thailand is a backwards hick country. Stop pretending like you're a free country, you dumbasses. Bangkok is full of crack whores, 10-year old hookers, and regardless of how many "land of 10,000 smiles" campaign you put out, your country is still home to the most sick, vile, and "buyable" city in the whole wide world.

Re: Re: Re: Simple solution...

I bet $1 trillion to a cent that this coward Swedish Mike won't give me his identity so I can come over to his place and chat. It is easy to figure out that a picture of a stupid swe-dish-head director who make a film that insult muslim women and got stabbed to death is still fresh in his mind. Would you come and see me at my place instead Mike. We are Thai and we welcome every creature in the world to our home--firend and enemy.

the video is here

Re: the video is here

could u send me a clip plz , i never see it because my goverment blocked that web

i don't know what happen but i need i say that all thai people love the King
the King is untouchable and we call the King "King In" it's mean that The king that we love is in all our heart of thai people, thx very much __/|__

I wonder if the U.S. wound ban YouTube if someone made a video of President Bush looking stupid...Oh I forgot he does that all by himself. (BANG - BANG - CRASH) Uh oh I think the thought police just knocked my door down come to take me away.

The problem is YouTube's lack of respect for what is held sacred by another country. The King of Thailand is viewed as a deity........as such it would be tantamount to a video degrading Jesus Christ............. how would the West view that? Well, that's exactly how the Thais feel. I'm sure YouTube would be willing to remove videos degrading Jesus of Black people because it operates on the West perspective only..............YouTube stands up to some things but backs off on other things.............YouTube is inconsistent and inconsiderate. Either leave everything up or remove the things majorly offensive................ Seriously, Western world how long would a video making fun of Black people or Jesus Christ stay up? You know the answer............Why can't you feel other people's perspective. I lost all respect for Google!

Re:

Apparently you don't know what your talking about. There are actually a large quantity of videos on YouTube that make fun of different races and Jesus Christ. The West is vastly more tolerating.
I strongly suggest research before opening your mouth again.

I think its more complex than painted

"You have to remember that Thailand holds it's king in the utmost esteme."
"King of Thailand is viewed as a deity"

I think you both misunderstand the nature of Thailand. Firstly the King has said he doesn't like this law and people should be able to criticize him. Secondly, the reverence of the King is used by politicians to attack their opponents.

This is why that law continues, politicians who don't like each other regularly file charges against each other that they 'showed disrespect for the man with charisma' and people countersue saying 'how dare they claim I didn't show respect for the king thats a nasty slur..'.

It means that people are brought up to think of the king as all good and all powerful, and to remember his role in ending the last coup. But in reality he's in a delicate political position as the figurehead of the political power brokers. Nobody can say critical things of him, so children think he is all good.

The man who banned YouTube had no choice, if he hadn't, he could be accused of not showing the correct respect for the king by his political enemies and imprisoned.

It's a game that masks the truth in Thailand, and that will become more apparent as his son becomes king.

Perspective...

As a Westerner I don't like it. From the perspect of Thailand or Thai people, I understand it (I've been there many times & my fiancee is Thai). If Google didn't respond to the takedown request, I don't see what other option they had (you couldn't restrict access to the video on YouTube w/o blocking all of it).

Even thought the King has limited political power in the traditional sense, the King is highly revered in Thailand & not one Thai person would openly criticize the King in public.

When I say the King of Thailand is regarded as a deity one only have to look at a Thai house and see his picture near pictures or statues of monks and the Buddha (Thailand's primary religion). People "wai" or show respect to the King's portrait in almost the same way as they do to the Buddha. Regardless of whether this is politically, socially, economically, etc. influenced or not, is irrelevant. People were brought up to respect the King this way and they practice this respect in the privacy of their homes, not by any coercion. Having said that the current King is respected as the person he is - much more so than the position. Everyone in Thailand acknowledges that his son (heir to the throne) will not be respected in the same way - in fact far from it. The majority of the Thais actually respect the Princess ("Pra Tep" - phonetic spelling) who is not the heir. We are all brought up to respect different entities, individuals, and even spirits. It's funny how little we understand another person's feeling when this belief-related respect is different from our own.

There is always a political element, but when it coincides with religion or near-religion, it relates to a much stronger belief and we need to respect that.

Once again, I believe that if the NAACP was protesting a similar thing on Martin Luther King Jr., YouTube would have removed it! Politically, corporations will always respond to the politics and economy that will affect it. I've changed my seach engine to Yahoo and I'm a Yankee.......... I support respect for other people's strong beliefs..... you shouldn't try to offend a whole group of people just because... how far do we take freedom of speech? The entire West Coast is full of graffitis - and that is regarded by some as freedom of speech. Some people would want a world without any guidelines or law enforcers - that would just be breeding grounds for people wanting to harm you - today it's your views, tomorrow it's your loved ones - get back to some morals - and show some respect. I don't care what religion or political party you belong to. There is core respect.

Thanks

Re: I enjoy the freedom and democracy

Good for you King is your, but not for most of us. For me, I believed in freedom and democracy and I will keep on voting for my President instead. Which controls by the people governs by the people not by one bloodline from many centuries ago and will be on forever.

Grrrrrr

The reason you people think it's so stupid is because you don't understand the situation in Thailand. Because you're ignorant and stuck up in your own culture full of pranks and graffiti. Well listen, in Thailand the king is VERY respected. If you insulted him in front of a group of teenagers. They'd smash you up big time.

I'd understand why you think it's ridiculous to ban youtube but remember Google REFUSED to remove the video. So much for fair Google. So Thailand then blocked Youtube simple and no I'm not Thai.

You're so stuck up with yourselves, Bombing countries for oil and believing George Bush's reason that it's for terrorists reason. I can't believe you take it upon yourself to judge a culture you don't understand one bit. Bloody Ignorant Wankers.

Block injustice. Block corruption. Block disparity.
Can you do that? It is hard, ain't it?

There is no royalty, no king, no queen, no prince and no princess.

All men, women and children are born equal.

This statement indeed does hold water. However, the pictures in that webpage are totally out of the lines. They're totally disrespectful. Monarchy aside, it's still wrong. It's inhumane. Nice people would never ever do such thing. I am deeply offended by the content of that webpage.

Isn't it common sense, common etiquette, and common practice not to hurt other people's feelings? Isn't it a common sense that we, human, should give some respect to other people? As a human, we do not hurt other people just for fun!

To intentionally hurt someone's feeling is psychologically barbaric. Civilized people won't do such thing.

If you have enough kindness, of course you won't intentionally hurt someone. Especially if that "someone" is (or are) stranger(s) that you don't even know and had not harmed you in anyway.

People who have fun trying to make others unhappy, upset, or sad, are, in my opinion, psychopaths. They enjoy hurting others. They enjoy bitterness of others. They are so heartless and inhuman!

Why? Why do people hurt other people?

Why?

I can't understand.

Where are their morality?

Don't they ever feel ashamed of themselves?

Why?

Would you mock or bad-mouth your friend's father or mother?

I would not. Because I know and understand how they would feel.

When people hurt others' feelings without hesitation, I guess it means that they lack one of the most important social skill; consideration.

Of course I was enraged when I saw that webpage.

But I know it's useless to get angry. Because those barbaric, heartless persons won't care about my feelings anyway.

I better take my time explaining one big misunderstanding in that webpage.

It's about royalty or monarchy that they mentioned there.

First off, I want to beg you foreigners to understand that we do not see his majesty the king just as the monarch. We don't only respect him by the royal title. We don't only love him just because our country is ruled by him.

We admire him, we love him, we respect him with our heart. I would say, emotionally attached. It's more like a sense of being family more than sense of monarchy warshipping. He is dear to us as a father to a child. He is not just a ruler with political title. In emotional aspect, he's much, much more important to us than any president to his people.

If you're a puppy lover, would you cry or get angry when you see someone kill a dog?

If you're animal lover, would you feel sad or feel upset when someone kill and skin those cute seal pups?

If you're holding something dear, would you get distressed or furious if someone intentionally destroy it?

Of course you (or at least, most people) would. Because we're human. We have feelings, emotion. We're not objects that can't feel or think! WE ARE HUMAN!

Now can you see? It's simply just a common sensitivity that a human would have. It has nothing to do with royal sentivity.

I, for one, would slap someone's face if they badmouth my father or mother. Or at least, if I could content myself not to do the IMPROPER thing, I would frown at the person. Not to mention badmouthing the king, who is held at the sacred place in my heart. Of course I would be furious by that.

Is it so difficult to feel or acknowledge the reason why so many Thais are angry at that problematic VDO clip?

If one is intelligent enough to use the internet and communicate well with other users, I think one shouldn't be so dull that other people's feelings are beyond one's comprehending.

You know, it is just so, so sad and discouraging to know and see that there are some meanies out there who would leap at every opportunity to *negatively* make fun of some one so much respected by so many people. I can't help but suspect that such kind of persons are not nice, are extremely selfish, and are evil.

Liberty does not mean you can freely do anything even if it harms other people.

Freedom of speech does not justify your abuse of speech.

Now, I might as well say, if a person does not acknowledge the boundary line between liberty and morality violation and keeps crossing the line, they are either extremely dumb or just a plain ignorant fool.

If the writer of that mentioned message truly believes that all people are born equal as they wrote, why can't they treat us and our king with respect just the same as they would treat their friends?

We're human too!

We're the same as you!

Since we're all human, treat us like human, just as a human would treat others.

One last question that I want to ask people that made that webpage, people who made that VDO clip, as well as people who are angry at us, Thais, just because some Thais violently (verbally) reacted to someone else's misbehave.

Some said like the creators of those clips and site has become fighters for freedom of speech or that kinda shit. What a greatest fighter ever... What will you fight for next? The right to openly bad mouth the parents of your own neighbors, maybe?

In my very humble opinion, I don't think those who made the clips or that site really care for freedom of speech or anything. They are just the trolls enjoying being feed by enraged people. It's a thing anyone can tell by just a mere glance at those brainless clips or site.

Re:

Hey Mike, you sound like a real Harvard or Oxford educated man. Wow, how did you become so educated? What an awesome example of Sweden you are. You really sound like you are light years ahead of any third-world nation. Can we look forward to you finding a cure to cancer? The toughest Mike of them all? Wow! I'm sure you will beat all the Thai boxers ass and soon to be crown the winner of Pride and the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Or perhaps you may even kick ass and teach the United States Marines what tought training is really about? You are such a prime specimen - I'm really, really impressed. I don't believe every Swedish person is as smart or tough as you, but will you please show them the way. You really have smart things to say. Is everyone here just impressed by Swedish Mike? Sweden rules? Wow! For a not-third-world nation, it is known for as many blond porns as they come - wow! I love that! That is so great! I wish we in the USA could be like Sweden and Americans be like Swedish Mike. What a better world this would be. Isn't the computer a wonderful place to dream? In front of a global audience, you are showing prime Swedish intelligence and manliness - WOW! I'll order my Saab now!

Re: thailand sucks!

george's mom sucks harder for less money!

George! If Thailand is a piece of shit, then what are you? You need a foot so deep up your ass that it vibrates your tonsils! I'd rather visit Thailand than your shitty ass trailer any day. We should also have freedom to shoot so someone can blow your fuckin' brains off the face of this earth and save precious oxygen. But you are lucky this is the internet because it allows pencil neck computer geeks like you to act tough. While I'm exercising freedom of speech, did you hear about the deepest cave in the world? - Your mom. But since you came out of it the day you were born, you must smell worse than shit. You must have had a thousand different dicks poking your forehead before you were born. Isn't freedom of speech fun? Oh, I would have been your daddy but the fuckin' pitbull beat me over the fence. Besides, your mom's cunt stunk too much.

* sigh * This is the result of too much freedom. An accumulation of morons. The funny thing is those who preach freedom of speech are way more offensive than those who do not. One word to the prudent, those people will always eventually taste their own medicine. There is always someone meaner, nastier, and more violent than you. You may end up on the receiving end of the stick. When that happens, I'm sure you will wish there was some authority (perhaps a soldier of some king) to come over and save you. As we can see here, george thought he was vulgar, until he encountered a Barry. Lucky for george he did not encounter Barry in the streets. Be careful what you preach for, you may just get it.

Re:

Your both lucky I didn't meet you on the streets.
I'm a major backer of the freedom of speech and I don't mindlessly slander. Having the right doesn't make it happen, its other more complex societal situations that bring it on.
You, of course, will never become familiar with that as you don't get to enjoy that same guarantee.
Freedom of speech is part of meaning I can defend myself against the Barry's of the world regardless of what level of government they were in. What if Barry was your king? He could of been. You'd be singing a different tune then, eh?
I strongly suggest an education if you ever read this.

SIMPLE SOLUTION is to take a knife, stick it up your balls, and rake it all the way up to your face. Do the same to your whore mom and shit in her cadaver. If she's already dead, dig her ass up again, and take a shit in her face after busting her skull open with a fuckin' brick. This would be my freedom of expression gift to you for being so disrespectful. Really, I would have no problems doing just that and sleep well like a baby. That's how much I hate disrespectful fucks like you hiding behind some freedom of speech. You are lucky I don't know you - anonymous fuck!

who ever made fun of the king. Screw you to Hell. You dont know the fuck how Thai people respect him. He is like everything. Everyone loves him here and even if you ask your grandparents they will probably know and admire him too.

Insult Thai King reflected Deep Racism think of some western people.
The King was not involved all kind of political action. His working time is all about how to help poor people in Prathet Thai. He and his working group do about agricultural research, education development, human development and other good purposes, but not politic. Some Thai republican and former communist who become rich man in present day against King and exploit some stupid western people to do something for their benefit. They need to turn Prathet Thai to Republic. Thai people do not agree with them because Thai People love King. So that bastard must do anything to destroy King.
All of them will die soon and burn in hell.

Freedom of Speech

Freedom of Speech is important, people who needlessy slander and frequently insult without base are the backbone of our own Freedom of Speech. Without them many governments would draw the line and no-one would notice.

So, after having read about the Thai culture in regards to their king, he's still a retarded fuckwit. He has the ability to start the wheel rolling for democracy in Thailand, the second he stops those ridiculous laws. He hasn't, so he enjoys his power in spite of the suffering it causes.
Grade-A fuckwit.

A political debate or art is one thing. Slandering just to slander is another. But since Ford likes that, then I have the freedom to call his mother a fuckin' 10-cent whore by choice. And according to his logic he should support that statement. Your mom was fucked by 10 retarded midgit fuckwits while you enjoy watching. And while you're at it, shove a fuckin' pink dildo up the Pope's ass and have your mom lick it. You were dumped early in life by your dad because of your mom's whorish behavior. So I understand why you would want to slander someone you don't even know. Like I said, if the rule applies then it applies to your mom and your god too. Thank you for your support. If you feel offended then don't do that to other people. Personally, I think too much freedom is fuckin' stupid. The only people who truly benefit are lowlife fucks who want to mouth off for no reason. Society declines because of less and less order. In a utopia, you can have freedom and everyone acts accordingly. Unfortunately, in the real world you have people like Ford (and all the other variations of his name) and society would benefit more by chopping his fuckin' head off. Anyway, tell your mom all the black dudes said she was a good fuck.

Offense

A post likened this debacle to someone posting a video making fun of Jesus Christ which I find inaccurate. I believe you get offended only if you want to get offended. As a Christian it is my stance if you want to make fun of Jesus I'm not going to take it personally.

So I think if the people of Thailand want to take offense then they will. It's all about how you want to take it.

XD

It has nothing to do with respect

All these people keep saying that the Thai people revere the King and would never criticize the king because they have so much respect for him. Respect has NOTHING to do with it morons! They 'respect' and 'revere' him because if they don't they get thrown in jail. The Thai king is nothing but a damn thug and the people should overthrow him and send him to the guillotine like the French did with their king. The guillotine is where all kings and dictators belong. The ignorance of you people who keep claiming that the Thai people love the king so much and thats why they would never say anything bad about him astounds me.

fuck thai people

first of all i'm an intelligent female who graduated from a university with a master's degree. i came to thailand because i wanted to help a helpless country... they don't want it and surely they don't deserve it after being here in thailand only for 7 months. the land of smiles is my ass, not thai people. they have no manners, no modesty, and no character. they talk shit in thai about you, in front or around you but not to you. as if they think we don't understand "farang" or our names in their hostile conversations.

they treat every foreigner like they care about you but they don't. so, yes, their FAKE ass people. they love to gossip and jump into conclusions like their going to die right then and there. they are truly retarded people who does not 'RESPECT' their king. if they did respect him then they should have never taken thailand for granted. the thais' should be willing to FIX their greedy/ corrupted/ selfish problems before representing themselves of proud people of thailand. WTF is there to be proud about? you all suck dicks and pussys. all what you want is money. and believe me thais do because i had alot of DUMB ass thai "supposedly" friends, who thought that i was one dumb and "such a nice" foreigner to give them MONEY if they ask for it in the most SLYIEST way possible. and thank god i never became a victim of fraud. i just tell them that i ain't got shit and i stick to that "friendly-brush off" undercover attitude.

remember, i said FUCK thai people not the country thailand. parts of thailand is breathtaking but not worth the mental, pyhsical, and, emotional abuse thai people like to create. they just all love having their own thai DRAMA series/ lakorns, every damn day.

i really do have lots of patience in working with thai students who take up my time of helping them for granted. they take us for granted because the school officials and thai teachers don't give a FUCK either about us foreigners. they just want "LITERALLY" all the free gov. funds for retarded ass projects that i never saw completed. and everyone of those thai people took as much money as they can for themselves. i see it everytime and i never ask because it's not my business. THAI people just want to spill little CRAP that you DON'T want to hear or know about. at the end, thai people are the most disgusting human beings living on earth. they can't take care of the nasty smell of their country and green environment that is falling apart.

i came to this country to seek truth behind all the myths about thailand and i can conclude that it's true. i get so irritated and annoyed by their attitude problems that i sometimes just want to slap, spit, and purposely bump into them because that's what they do to every foreigner here. and i don't like how they really RIPP you off on everything, even if i speak thai to them. and they do OVERCHARGE and BEAT UP foreigners. how do i know? because i've seen situations like that all the time here in thailand.

by the way, i'm not "white" american. i'm asian american. and thank god i'm not thai, if i was i would hang myself because of shame.

thai people should SHUT the HELL up because you CREATURES don't have anything good to PROVE that you care about thailand or yourselves. not even proof that YOU, yea YOU, care about the king. i've seen the king's work and let me tell ya, he's the BEST thai person i'll ever know because he does all of his thai citizens DIRTY jobs volunteerly. and the rest of the thai people ARE INCREDIBLY "LAZY." always fucking "sabai, sabai."

Re: fuck thai people

fuck thai people

first of all i'm an intelligent female who graduated from a university with a master's degree. i came to thailand because i wanted to help a helpless country... they don't want it and surely they don't deserve it after being here in thailand only for 7 months. the land of smiles is my ass, not thai people. they have no manners, no modesty, and no character. they talk shit in thai about you, in front or around you but not to you. as if they think we don't understand "farang" or our names in their hostile conversations.

they treat every foreigner like they care about you but they don't. so, yes, their FAKE ass people. they love to gossip and jump into conclusions like their going to die right then and there. they are truly retarded people who does not 'RESPECT' their king. if they did respect him then they should have never taken thailand for granted. the thais' should be willing to FIX their greedy/ corrupted/ selfish problems before representing themselves of proud people of thailand. WTF is there to be proud about? you all suck dicks and pussys. all what you want is money. and believe me thais do because i had alot of DUMB ass thai "supposedly" friends, who thought that i was one dumb and "such a nice" foreigner to give them MONEY if they ask for it in the most SLYIEST way possible. and thank god i never became a victim of fraud. i just tell them that i ain't got shit and i stick to that "friendly-brush off" undercover attitude.

remember, i said FUCK thai people not the country thailand. parts of thailand is breathtaking but not worth the mental, pyhsical, and, emotional abuse thai people like to create. they just all love having their own thai DRAMA series/ lakorns, every damn day.

i really do have lots of patience in working with thai students who take up my time of helping them for granted. they take us for granted because the school officials and thai teachers don't give a FUCK either about us foreigners. they just want "LITERALLY" all the free gov. funds for retarded ass projects that i never saw completed. and everyone of those thai people took as much money as they can for themselves. i see it everytime and i never ask because it's not my business. THAI people just want to spill little CRAP that you DON'T want to hear or know about. at the end, thai people are the most disgusting human beings living on earth. they can't take care of the nasty smell of their country and green environment that is falling apart.

i came to this country to seek truth behind all the myths about thailand and i can conclude that it's true. i get so irritated and annoyed by their attitude problems that i sometimes just want to slap, spit, and purposely bump into them because that's what they do to every foreigner here. and i don't like how they really RIPP you off on everything, even if i speak thai to them. and they do OVERCHARGE and BEAT UP foreigners. how do i know? because i've seen situations like that all the time here in thailand.

by the way, i'm not "white" american. i'm asian american. and thank god i'm not thai, if i was i would hang myself because of shame.

thai people should SHUT the HELL up because you CREATURES don't have anything good to PROVE that you care about thailand or yourselves. not even proof that YOU, yea YOU, care about the king. i've seen the king's work and let me tell ya, he's the BEST thai person i'll ever know because he does all of his thai citizens DIRTY jobs volunteerly. and the rest of the thai people ARE INCREDIBLY "LAZY." always fucking "sabai, sabai."